Sighting devices for firearms



SEARCH ROOM 33*242- GR 391929632 SR y 1965 G. VON STAVENHAGEN 3,

SIGHTING DEVICES FOR FIREARMS Filed Jan. 29, 1962 /N VE N TOR W M fia United States Patent 3,192,632 SIGHTING DEVICES FOR FIREARMS Georg von Stavenhagen, Leverkusen, Germany, assignor of fifty percent to Fritz Walther, Ulm (Danube), Germany Filed Jan. 29, 1962, Ser. No. 169,343 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 2, 1961,

W 29,394; May 15, 1961, W 29,992

5 Claims. (Cl. 33-47) The invent-ion relates to a sighting device for firearms. It is known that the conventional sighting devices are in general only satisfactory with front lighting, whereas in the case -of light coming from above or from the back they do not enable perfect aiming, because the apparently grey colour of the sighting device very seldom stands out sulficiently clearly against the colour of the target.

For this reason it has already been proposed to slope the surface of the bead or the bead saddle facing the eye of the marksman steeply upward towards the front and to enamel it white. In another known form of construction the bead or front sight is placed as a solid structure in front of said white surface and bevelled towards the rear. In conjunction with this bead a black, upright sight plate With a circular aperture is used. This form of construction of the head is open to the objection that the pistol, when being drawn quickly, catches in the pocket or the like and moreover this sighting device was found to be almost useless in light coming from the front.

In another known sighting device the above-mentioned solid bead is omitted and a black mark painted on the inclined white surface. This avoids the danger of the pistol catching when being drawn but in the event of front lighting the coloured mark was scarcely distinguishable and under other lighting conditions the bead appeared absolutely grey and blurred. In yet another known form of construction a fiat triangular structure was placed upright on the inclined white surface and a backsight leaf with triangular, rectangular or even semicircular notch was used. In this case the bead, when fitted on a pistol, was liable to catch when drawing quickly. Furthermore the former difliculties when sighting could also not be overcome.

As a white mark on the bead with corresponding marking on the backsight plate was of little use in some lighting, it has also been proposed to provide the backsight with a white line at a slight distance from the edge. However, such a thin white line in combination with the remaining thin black edge of the bead was also unable to produce any great advantages. In the case of strong counter-lighting the black corners of the bead and the bead itself appeared grey.

In the case of rear lighting, that is white on white, it was difficult to determine the height adjustment of the bead, All these known bead and notch constructions can be used with top and rear illumination and the bead also stands out sufficiently clearly from the white surface with this lighting, but they are useless in the case of counter lighting. Consequently practically no importance has been given to them and in practice roof-shaped, round and bar front sights are again used in combination with triangular, rectangular or semicircular rear sights, with or without coloured points, squares, lines or rhombs on slightly inclined or upright surfaces.

The invention has for its object to make the front and back sights appear light against dark objects and dark against light objects.

To attain this object, the proposal according to the invention consists in that, in a sighting device for firearms with marks applied on the front and back sights, the mark 3,192,632 Patented July 6, 1965 ice on the front sight or bead be substantially a circular surface having a diameter about the width of the front sight or head and that the upper boundary line of the mark shall lie on the upper boundary line of the bead visible when aiming while the lower part of the mark is rounded, further that the mark be in a different plane to the other surface portions on the side of the front sight facing the marksman, and that the back sight be provided with a strip or band-like mark extending vertically in the area of vision of the marksman up to a notch aperture, whereby the strip or band-like mark shall also lie in a different plane to the surface portions on the side of the back sight facing the marksman, and finally that the marks on the front and back sights be coloured to stand out in contrast from the above-mentioned surface portions.

So that the contour of the mark on the front sight remains sharp and does not appear blurred or even grey, except in the case of strong front light when the whole front sight or bead appears dark, it is proposed according to one embodiment of the invention that the parts of the bead or front sight on the two sides of the mark be located in shadow so that they appear in dark contrast to the mark. This effect is attained by arranging on the two sides of the mark, band or strip-like surfaces bordering the mark tangentially in the range of vision of the marksman and extending at an incline opposite to the incline of the portion of the front sight provided with the mark, these bands or strips being located behind the mark in the firing direction. The connecting line between the two upper edges of the two band or strip-like surfaces contacts the mark tangentially in the form of a circular surface. A mark of another areal shape then extends up to the above-mentioned imaginary connecting line which coincides with the upper visible boundary line of the front sight.

The back sight coordinated to the bead or front sight has a surface inclining upwards in forward direction and extending up to the lower edge of the sight leaf or plate leaning towards the marksman and provided with a notch or sight aperture and immediately below the aperture in the forwardly ascending surface the band or strip-like mark is provided which clearly stands out in colour against the colour of the material of the back sight. So that the contour of the back sight and especially of the mark arranged below the aperture or notch remain sharply visible under incident light, the sight plate is inclined towards the marksman in the manner mentioned above.

According to a further proposal of the invention, the notch or aperture of the back sight should not be absolutely semicircular but, commencing at the top, the sides of the aperture should first extend vertically downwards to about 25% of the depth and then be so rounded that a horizontal middle portion is obtained, whereby the bottom horizontally extending line of the back sight aperture is of a width corresponding to that which the bead or front sight appears to be when aiming. This mixture of a back sight aperture of rectangular and semicircular cross-section brings unexpected advantages because, even the slightest lateral displacement of the front sight in the back sight aperture appearing larger to the marksman is immediately noticeable on account of the different sizes of the areas of the gap on the right and left between the lateral boundaries of the bead or front sight and the back sight notch or aperture and a correction is therefore easily possible. Numerous experiments showed that even in the case of slight displacement of the front sight or bead from the middle of the notch or aperture the greatest visible difference of the areas of the gap was only present in the case of the back stop aperture according to the invention. The series of experiments is recorded below and the exponents of the area differences in the case of only a slight displacement of 3 the bead within the back sight aperture are set forth numerically:

( 1) Rectangular back sight and narrow roof-shaped bead 15 (2) Semicircular back sight and narrow roof-shaped bead 16 (3) Triangular back sight and narrow roof-shaped bead 17 (4) Semicircular back sight and wide roof-shaped bead 18 (5) Rectangular back sight and wide roof-shaped bead 20 (6) Triangular back sight and wide roof-shaped bead- 23 (7) Semicircular back sight and bar bead 24 (8) Triangular back sight and bar bead 27 (9) Triangular back sight and bar bead 40 (10) Back stop according to the invention and bar bead 43 The marks on the bead and back sight should be light, preferably white in colour, and be either applied or embedded in the surfaces in recesses corresponding to their shape. The marks may consist of luminous paints or other substances appearing white in daylight and luminous at night. At the same time the luminous colours of the bead and the back sights are preferably so adapted to each other that the marks appear to be of equal luminous strength to the eye of the marksman.

According to a further feature of the invention the marks on the front and back sights are of such Width that they appear to be of the same width to the marksman when aiming, whereby the relation of the actual widths is calculated according to the formula E being the distance between the eye and the back sight, L the length of the line of sight, and M the reduction factor by which the diameter of the mark on the bead must be enlarged in order to obtain the necessary width of the strip or band on the back sight.

The upper boundary line of the bead and the sight plate should coincide when the two coloured marks contact.

According to the invention it is likewise possible for the marks on the front and back sights to consist of black surfaces on a light ground. So that the marks on the front and back sights appear in sharp contour and not blurred or even grey under all lighting conditions, it is proposed according to a further feature of the invention that the mark appearing black or blackish on the bead consist of a bore or a similar deep recess with sharp boundary edges. Similarly the strip or band-like mark appearing dark or black on the back sight can be formed by an incision with sharp edges in the forwardly sloping surface of the back sight, whereby, differing from the back sight illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 6, the ascending surface of the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 9 extends to the upper sighting edge of the back sight because this surface is now to appear light and the strip or band-like mark consisting of an incision or the like is to stand out in contrast to this surface. Also in this case the upper horizontally extending edge of the sight leaf or of the incision extends up to very near the lower edge of the preferably or substantially semicircular notch of the back sight. It is particularly advantageous for the aperture of the back sight not to be absolutely semicircular but the sides of the aperture, commencing at the top should first extend vertically downwards to about 25% of the depth and are then so rounded that a horizontal middle portion is obtained and the bottom horizontal line of the back sight aperture is of such length that it appears equal to the width of the front sight when aiming.

The bores, incisions or other recesses with sharp edged or contrasting boundary surfaces can, in order to form the sighting marks, be provided with other means for preventing the light from penetrating into the bores, incisions 01' the like. Thus the bore or incision can be undercut so that the inner walls of the bore or incision are always lo cated in the shadow. The bores and incisions should always be of sufficient depth to produce ample shade and contrast effect. Finally the walls of the bore or incision can be provided with a light absorbent surface for which purpose the surfaces may be roughened so as to avoid mirror effects or reflections of light. They may, however, also be provided with a suitable dark light-absorbent coating.

In the sighting device according to the invention the front and rear sights appear light against dark objects and dark against light objects and the sights appear white or black as required. The sighting device according to the invention is so designed that the eye adjusts itself according to the white or black of the sight according to the lighting and according to the colour of the target without any effort and without the marksman being conscious of selection. All these conditions being met, unavoidable angular shapes of the bead and the sighting leaf are screened by protecting devices so that the pistol cannot catch when being drawn.

The invention is hereinafter described by way of example with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of the front sight of a firearm;

FIG. 2 shows the front sight or bead according to FIG. 1 in the line of vision of the marksman;

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of the back sight complementing the bead or front sight illustrated in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 a section through the back sight shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a bead or front sight according to FIG. 1 and a rear sight according to FIG. 3, both appearing black under strong front lighting;

FIG. 6 shows the same sighting device with a white spot mark on the front sight and a white band or strip mark on the back sight under lighting from the rear;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the front sight for a firearm with marking in the form of a circular area pro duced by a bore;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a back sight for use with the front sight of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a section taken in a vertical plane passing through the centre of the back sight according to FIG. 8, and

FIG. 10 shows the black marks produced by the bore and incision in the case of the sighting device with front sight or head and back sight according to FIGS. 7 and 8 respectively.

According to FIG. 1, the downwardly sloping surface 10 on a rearwardly extending projection of the body of the head or front sight 11 facing the marksman is provided with a white mark 12 in the form of a circular spot or surface, whereby the mark 12 consists of a luminous paint which appears white in daylight and luminous in the dark. This mark may be composed of white paint embedded in a recess corresponding to the shape of the mark. It may also consist of a source of light which appears light or white in daylight and emits light in twilight or darkness.

The body of the front sight or bead 11 is considerably wider than the mark applied in its middle portion, the mark being about /3 the width of the head. The upper boundary line of the mark or in this case the vertex of the mark is located on the upper horizontal boundary line 13 of the body or bead 11 visible when aiming. On each side of the projection bearing mark 12 the strips or bands 15 and 16 of the bead are shaded from the light and appear dark or in contrast to the mark 12 because they are screened against the incidence of light. These strips or hands 15 and 16 of the head on the right and left of the mark 12 are inclined in the opposite direction to the inclination of the rear sighting surface 10 provided with the mark 12 and as a result .are in a different plane to the flat surface 10 of the projection bearing the mark 11.

They are located behind the mark 12 in the firing direction. The connecting line 13 of the upper boundaries of the strips or bands 15 and 16, which at the same time forms the upper line of the bead or front sight when aiming, is tangential to the mark 12. It is to be noted that the mark 10 is tangent to the horizontal line 13 and is tangent to the side edges of the projection bearing the mark 10.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a rear sight block 18 with rear sighting surface 19 sloping upwards towards the front and extending up to the lower edge of the sight leaf 20 with the notch or sight aperture 21. Directly below the notch or aperture 21 which is the full depth of the sight leaf, the elongated rectangular mark 22 is provided on the forwardly ascending surface 19. It is also possible to dispense with the surf-ace 19 providing the strip or band 22 remains in the position shown. The sight leaf 20 leans over in the direction towards the marksman, so that the part facing the eye of the marksman is in shadow and appears dark, as can clearly be seen from FIG. 3 (23).

FIG. shows the sighting device under strong front lighting; it then appears entirely black and the colour marks cannot be seen because aim is normally taken with black bead and black back sight. Under different lighting shown in FIG. 6, for example, from the back, the marks 12 and 22 become light and it is not possible for the mark 12 to appear blurred, it being laterally bordered by the black or dark strips or bands 15 and 16. The optical effect is enhanced by the angular position of the lower portion of the rear sight. The upper part with the sighting aperture remains dark while the lower part with the strip mark remains light. For aiming it is only necessary to bring the point or circular spot 12 into alignment with the strip or band mark 22.

FIG. 6, like FIG. 5, shows the upper portion of the rear sight as being of a depth equal to the width of the white strip or band and as the band corresponds exactly to the diameter of the white spot on the front sight when aiming, the white spot will fit in the notch in the direction of height so that it is just in contact with the strip without departing from the position of aligned bead. It is immaterial whether the aiming is effected with white or black, the aiming position is the same in both cases.

A thickness of 2.8 to 3.2 is found particularly advantageous for the bead, depending upon the kind of weapon and the length of barrel. The notch should not, however, be too wide. Although when rapid firing the bead can more easily be found through a wide notch, yet it is more difficult to keep in the middle thereof. Consequently the back sight notch or aperture should not be more than twice the Width of the bead. A ratio of 3:2 has been found particularly advantageous. A too deep notch is disadvantageous because it tires the eye without offering any advantages.

FIGS. 5 and 6 also show the combination of a semicircular and rectangular back sight aperture and that in addition the sides 21 of the aperture commencing at the top extend downwards a distance equal to about 25% of the depth and are then rounded so that the bottom of the notch or aperture is fiat, the horizontal portion of the notch being of a length which appears when aiming to be about equal to the width of the bead. The angular sight leaf is accommodated in a block with rounded corners.

FIG. 7 shows a front sight body or bead 24 of modified construction having a rear sighting surface 25 ascending at an incline and producing a light effect to the eye and in which a circular bore or recess 26 is provided extending parallel to the axis of the firearm barrel and constituting a circular mark which always appears black or very dark. This bore or recess 26 is deeper than shown in the drawing to ensure that a black or dark mark is produced and prevent light from penetrating the bore and reaching the bottom thereof. In this case the mark lies in a different plane to the fiat portion 25 of the bead.

According to FIG. 8 the upwardly ascending rear sighting surface 27 of the back sight block 28 is provided with an incision or slot 29 which produces a black or blackish area constituting the aiming mark. The upper horizontal boundary edge 30 of the incision or slot extends right or nearly up to the lower edge of the substantially semicircular back sight notch or aperture 31. The surface 27 sloping upwards in forward direction extends at the same angle of inclination up to the upper edge 32 of the back Sight.

As can be seen from FIG. 9 the incision or slot 29 is of sufficient depth to obtain in every case a clear mark with sharp contour by shadow effect. FIG. 10 shows the effect obtained with the bore 26 and the incision or slot 29 when aiming, because the marks always appear black or dark and stand out in strong contrast from the surrounding surfaces.

It is particularly advantageous to provide the light surfaces 25 of the bead and 27 of the back sight with a coat of luminous paint. As the surfaces are relatively large, it is advantageous to use only a slightly luminous paint which is not likely to dazzle yet enables the contrast between the marks in the form of a bore or an incision to be clearly recognizable.

I claim:

1. A sighting device for firearms, said device com prising in combination a front sight and a rear sight, said front sight comprising a body for attachment to a firearm and having an upper surface terminating in a horizontal line at the rear of said body, a projection on the rear of said body of less width than said body and having an upwardly and forwardly inclined rear sighting surface terminating at said horizontal line and a circular sighting mark on said sighting surface, said mark being tangent to said horizontal line and tangent to the side edges of said projection, the rear surfaces of said body on opposite sides of said projection being inclined downwardly and forwardly from said horizontal line to the lower rear edge of said body, said rear sight comprising a block for attachment to a firearm and having an upwardly and forwardly inclined rear sighting surface terminating in a horizontal line, said block being formed to provide a leaf projecting upwardly from said last-named horizontal line, the rear surface of said leaf being inclined upwardly and rearwardly, said leaf having a sighting notch in the upper edge terminating at said last-named horizontal line and an elongated rectangular sighting mark on the sighting surface of said rear sight in alignment with the center of said notch, the width of said rectangular mark being equal to the diameter of said circular mark and the upper end of said rectangular mark terminating at said last-named horizontal line, the width of said notch being greater than the width of said front sight body.

2. A sighting device as defined in claim 1, in which said notch is provided with vertical side walls extending downwardly from the upper edge of said leaf a distance equal to approximately 25% of the total depth of said notch, said side Walls at the lower ends merging into arcuate portions Which in turn merge into said last-named horizontal line, the length of said last-named horizontal line between said arcuate portions being equal to the width of the body of said front sight.

3. A sighting device as defined in claim 1, in which the diameter of said circular mark as viewed through said notch is equal to the depth of said notch.

4. A sighting device as defined in claim 1, in which said circular mark is provided by a circular recess in the rear sighting surface of said projection and in which said rectangular mark is provided by a slot in the sighting surface of said rear sight, the edges of said recess and slot being sharp.

5. A sighting device for firearms, said device comprising in combination a front sight and a rear sight, said front sight comprising a body for attachment to a firearm and having an upper surface terminating in a horizontal line at the'rear of said body, an upwardly and forwardly inclined rear sighting surface on said body terminating at said horizontal line, said rear sighting surface having a circular recess therein providing a circular sighting mark, the diameter of said recess being less than the width of said body, said rear sight comprising a block for attachment to a firearm and having an upwardly and forwardly inclined rear sighting surface terminating at the upper edge of said block, a sighting notch in the upper edge of said block and said last-named rear sighting surface having a vertical elongated slot therein in alignment with the center of said notch, the upper end of said slot terminating adjacent the bottom of said notch to provide a vertical rectangular sighting mark on said rear sight.

1,004,241 9/11 Chadwick 33-58 5 1,293,551 2/19 Riser 3352 1,357,094 10/20 Kaempfer 3352 1,363,553 12/20 Barringer 33-52 1,852,875 4/32 Endrezze 33-52 10 FOREIGN PATENTS 82,100 3/20 Austria.

7,473 12/05 Great Britain.

ISAAC LISANN, Primary Examiner.

15 RDBERT B. HULL, Examiner. 

1. A SIGHTING DEVICE FOR FIREARMS, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING IN COMBINATION A FRONT SIGHT AND A REAR SIGHT, SAID FRONT SIGHT COMPRISING A BODY FOR ATTACHMENT TO A FIREARM AND HAVING AN UPPER SURFACE TERMINATING IN A HORIZONTAL LINE AT THE REAR OF SAID BODY, A PROJECTION ON THE REAR OF SAID BODY OF LESS WIDTH THAN SAID BODY AND HAVING AN UPWARDLY AND FORWARDLY INCLINED REAR SIGHTING SURFACE TERMINATING AT SAID HORIZONTAL LINE AND A CIRCULAR SIGHTING MARK ON SAID SIGHTING SURFACE, SAID MARK BEING TANGENT TO SAID HORIZONTAL LINE AND TANGENT TO THE SIDE EDGES OF SAID PROJECTION, THE REAR SURFACES OF SAID BODY ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID PROJECTION BEING INCLINED DOWNWARDLY AND FORWARDLY FROM SAID HORIZONTAL LINE TO THE LOWER REAR EDGE OF SAID BODY, SAID REAR SIGHT COMPRISING A BLOCK FOR ATTACHMENT TO A FIREARM AND HAVING AN UPWARDLY AND FORWARDLY INCLINED REAR SIGHTING SURFACE TERMINATING IN A HORIZONTAL LINE, SAID BLOCK BEING FORMED TO PROVIDE A LEAF PROJECTING UPWARDLY FROM SAID LAST-NAMED HORIZONTAL LINE, THE REAR SURFACE OF SAID LEAF BEING INCLINED UPWARDLY AND REARWARDLY, SAID LEAF HAVING A SIGHTING NOTCH IN THE UPPER EDGE TERMINATING AT SAID LAST-NAMED HORIZONTAL LINE AND AN ELONGATED RECTANGULAR SIGHTING MARK ON THE SIGHTING SURFACE OF SAID REAR SIGHT IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE CENTER OF SAID NOTCH, THE WIDTH OF SAID RECTANGULAR MARK BEING EQUAL TO THE DIAMETER OF SAID CIRCULAR MARK AND THE UPPER END OF SAID RECTANGULAR MARK TERMINATING AT SAID LAST-NAMED HORIZONTAL LINE, THE WIDTH OF SAID NOTCH BEING GREATER THAN THE WIDTH OF SAID SIGHT BODY. 